Thanks to an old friend, a familiar face will again grace a familiar stage when Stephen McBean brings his Pink Mountaintops project to a new version of Harpo’s (now known as the Upstairs Cabaret in Bastion Square).
Opened in 1974 and closed in 1995, Harpo’s is revered by longtime members of Victoria’s music scene as the 19+ live music venue that got away, hosting some of the largest names in rock, usually before they broke into the mainstream, during its heyday in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Local promoter Marcus Pollard is bringing back the venue name for select nights as the Harpo’s Redux benefit concert series.
The first time McBean (now an acclaimed indie rock musician in Pink Mountaintops and his main band, Black Mountain) remembers hearing about Harpo’s is when he was an underage member of the Victoria punk scene and getting a post-show report from his older roommates.
“I love that room; it’s a great room. The history there is amazing and so many bands played there. I remember my older roommates went there when I was too young to go and they saw The Asexuals and Killdozer and some band called the Melvins opened,” laughs McBean. “My roommates came back to the house afterwards and were, like, ‘Whoah!’”
Because of the efforts of Pollard, who used to book shows at Harpo’s during its glory years, Upstairs has hosted three of the benefit shows so far, including the Pink Mountaintops show on May 22 in support of a local family in need, as well as a previous Mountaintops show in December to raise money for the Victoria Society for Children with Autism.
“It felt great to play there again. That show was really fun in December,” says McBean, who performed there often during the ’90s in bands such as thrash metal maniacs Mission of Christ and emo rockers Onionhouse. “It’s a good cause and it’s a nice way to give back to your hometown for those people that need help.”
Pollard remembers a young McBean playing a prominent role in the Victoria music scene and hints that his presence in the venue was not always on the up and up.
“Stephen has a long history with the old Harpo’s,” says Pollard, “from attending some crucial concerts of his possibly underage life to performing there on numerous occasions. It should be like old home week for him!”
As for McBean’s memories of Pollard, as well as playing in the surf-tinged punk group Red Tide at different times, their connection goes way back to 1985. McBean’s band at the time, Mission of Christ, needed some crucial advice on a recording contract and Pollard was there to jump in.
“He was kind of our manager, in a way; he sort of just helped out because we were pretty clueless,” laughs McBean, “especially when we got the contract from [legendary heavy metal label] Metal Blade Records. We were, like, ‘Whatever, let’s sign anything,’ and Marcus said, ‘Hold up, hold up.’ He seemed decades older than us then, but he was probably only a few years older.”
Pink Mountaintops
9 pm Thursday May 22
$15, Upstairs Cabaret
upstairscabaret.ca/events